Verbal, paraverbal, non-verbal communication: what are we talking about?

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When it comes to sales techniques, the following three concepts are often discussed, which require some real clarification:

Verbal communication is the words used out loud during an exchange, which is important to pay attention to in order to be understood.
Paraverbal communication includes tone, rhythm, volume and rate of speech used, and helps to enhance verbal communication of emotion, to give true meaning to the speech.
Nonverbal communication refers to the body language used, including gestures, posture, gaze and facial expressions.
One type of communication never goes without the other , in a sales process as in any type of interpersonal exchange. Imagine an interlocutor who tells you that what you are saying is “very interesting”, but who uses a monotonous, almost ironic tone, and keeps his arms crossed and his gaze shifty: you can see that, in this situation, it is a safe bet that the majority of the message to be retained is due to para-verbal and non-verbal communication!

What's more, a study by Albert Mehrabian , a psychologist and czech republic phone number data professor of psychology at the University of California, indicates that the majority of what your interlocutor remembers does not come from verbal communication, but from non-verbal language !

This study indicates that the information received during an exchange represents…

7% verbal communication
At 38% para-verbal communication
55% of non-verbal communication
So, selling well means knowing how to master these three types of communication yourself, but also identifying all these more or less strong signals in your interlocutor , in order to adapt to them.

How to integrate nonverbal communication into your sales process?
Want to focus on using body language in your sales? Here are 5 key tips to help you do just that.